Electrical or electronic apparatus, such as network switches or routers, often include a plurality of ports or sockets to receive cables, such as network cables. High port-count server switches attempt to have as many ports as possible on a front panel to maximize functionality. The front panel is most easily accessible to a user, but space on the front cover is often limited. A printed circuit board (PCB), on which the ports are mounted, dictates the number of ports which will fit in any given space.
Further, an indication is usually provided of the status of each of the ports. Such an indication may be provided by a light source or light emitter, such as a light emitting diode (LED). Since it is useful to have a LED for each port, the available space on the PCB becomes even more limited. The LEDs may even compete for space with ports and other devices on the front panel of a server.
Typical right angled LEDs (having their leads orientated transversely to the LED) are too wide to fit, leaving only the narrowest LED to be considered. In general, right angled LEDs have leads or metal pins which fit into plated holes on the PCB and require wave soldering to complete the electrical connection and physical attachment of the LED to the PCB. Once soldered, LEDs can only be removed by de-soldering them. LEDs with solder pins are often misaligned during the wave soldering process and therefore may not line up with apertures provided on the front panel. The soldering process itself requires specific pin lengths and component orientation to minimize soldering defects. Also, LEDs with solder pins require the additional cost to wave solder, as most PCBs use components that are surface mount devices which have no pins and use a re-flow solder process.
Surface mount right angled LEDs are available. The surface mount process can also cause the LEDs to “float” and become misaligned during soldering. Removal of surface mounted LEDs requires the difficult task of de-soldering.